In “Shame,” Michael Fassbender powerfully depicts the soulless misery of a driven existence. The other day, I saw a man deep in the throes of this. He stood, leaning against a “down” stairway, his eyes furtively glancing up the stairs to see who would be coming down, what they would be wearing. Women in skirts […]

I wrote about the encounter between Brandon and the young woman played so powerfully by Lucy Walters that opens “Shame.” I had forgotten the final scene of the movie, a reprise of the first scene. And, in reading a couple of interviews with Walters, I realized I got one detail wrong: she didn’t just have […]

When it came out, I saw “Shame” in the theater. I wrote about it, somewhat incoherently (in retrospect). I’m watching it again, now, at home. Last night, I watched the first half of it. It yanked my heart out. Michael Fassbender’s performance as Brandon is brilliant, heart-rending. And it captures so much of what I […]

A.O. Scott’s review of “Shame” in The New York Times alludes to Shakespeare’s Sonnet 129: The expense of spirit in a waste of shame Is lust in action; and till action, lust Is perjured, murderous, bloody, full of blame, Savage, extreme, rude, cruel, not to trust, Enjoy’d no sooner but despised straight, Past reason hunted, […]